


You Were Happy

by choosyq



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 04:59:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12450132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choosyq/pseuds/choosyq
Summary: Ozark (Shepard) and Steve share a nice moment down in the cargo bay.





	You Were Happy

Steve had nearly finished with the diagnostic check on the shuttle when Ozark walked into the cargo bay and over to the shuttle where he worked. Oz leaned against it, a pensive look on his face, mulling over something important. Something he might have done differently in the last battle, or something that was completely out of his control but still felt guilty about it. Or some sort of horrible choice he might have to make in order to save the galaxy. It could have been a mix of all three if he knew Oz half as well as he thought he did.

“Where’ve you been? You skipped out on breakfast with me today,” Steve said, setting the tablet down on a few crates; the results of the scan could wait until after lunch. He moved to stand in front of Shepard.

“Had reports to file and got caught up thinking about things.”

“Like?”

Ozark’s brows furrowed in thought, and with a shrug, he reached out to close the distance between them, gently pulling Steve closer. As Ozark’s arms settled around his middle, he slid his arms up and around Ozark’s shoulders in return. With Oz leaning against the shuttle, hunched over like he was, they were almost the same height. Steve got a good, proper look at those impossibly green eyes he was falling for.

“I had a dream about you.”

“Oh, I see. Was I good? Were we having fun?” Steve teased.

Ozark chuckled. He tightened his arms around Steve’s waist, closing the gap between them, and rested his chin on Steve’s shoulder. “It was fun, but not like that. It was different,” Oz said, “but it was good.”

“Tell me about it. Please?”

While he waited for Oz to speak, Steve ran one hand through his hair. When they first met, Ozark’s hair had been buzzed close to his scalp. Easy to maintain, all around better in combat situations. In their short time together it’d gotten longer, and he had soft, barely curly wisps of hair at his nape. It was just another part of him that Steve was beginning to realize he couldn’t live without.

“It was you and me,” Oz began, voice dropping down to a warm whisper, “and we were sitting at a table. A kitchen table, ours. I handed you a cup of coffee, and sat down by you. You were reading something, I watched the news. You had these grey streaks in your hair, but you looked happy.”

He closed his eyes. It was no wonder why Oz had looked the way he did, why he skipped breakfast.

The future wasn’t something they talked about. It wasn’t something he dared to fully discuss, either. Sure they had their moments: trying to figure out whether or not Oz wanted to adopt a dog in the future, his preferences about curtains and art, and that one time during a round of poker when Oz had asked him to describe his dream house, anywhere in the galaxy, no-holds-barred. During the quiet moments when each of them thought, maybe, but never said it out loud.

“Did we have a dog?” Steve asked.

“Not in this one.”

This one. This dream. There had been more he didn’t know about.

Steve took a shaky breath, his hold tightening around Ozark’s shoulder, and one hand curling in his hair.

Falling in love with Ozark was inevitable. He’d known it from the moment they first kissed. It was only a matter of whether he would willingly walk over that cliff, or if he’d kick and scream every step of the way, pleading with himself to remember how much love hurt, how dangerous it could be, especially with someone like Ozark.

Now he could feel himself sprinting towards that edge as fast as his legs could carry him. The fall would be scary and wonderful. It could be over in the blink of an eye, he knew that all too well. But just over that edge was an entire forest valley of possibilities of what life could be like with Ozark. And in that valley, there were trails that ended in different places with no discernible outcome, laying out what their life could be like together if they only took the time to explore.

He pressed a kiss to Ozark’s shoulder, hoping he felt it through his uniform. Ozark gave him a squeeze before he dropped his arms and stood up right.

“You’re right. It’s a good dream,” Steve said as he reluctantly backed up. He ran his fingers along the underside of Ozark’s jaw. Oz was smiling, but he still had that look on his face. There was more to the dream than he said. More that he wasn’t able to talk about just yet.

Ozark leaned into his touch. “You should go get some lunch. There’s actual spaghetti up there, and you know how Kaidan gets about the meatballs.”

Steve laughed, and although it felt good to laugh, he felt shaky inside. Excited, almost nervous for their next conversation, for tomorrow. It wasn’t every day that a person realized they were ready for everything that love entailed. He reached up to pull Oz down into a tender kiss, and hummed into it when Ozark kissed him back.

“I’m going to stay down here for a while,” Ozark said against his lips.

Steve nodded as he pulled away to head towards the elevator, and over his shoulder he called, “Tell me if you have any more of those dreams…I want to hear about them.”

He didn’t look back to see if Oz had responded. If he knew Oz, he’d already be in the shuttle, slouched on the middle seat, eyes closed, hand on his head or his arms crossed over his body. It was the only place he could think; it was his quiet spot. And if there was more to the dream like he thought, it was up to Oz to share it when he was ready. He hoped he would hear about the dream soon.

Steve smiled to himself as he hit the elevator button.


End file.
